Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Poor Braves Will Have to Buy Their Own Furniture...But Won't Release Documents That Would Prove It

So the Braves finally found a county (on their fifth try) to build them a spring training park...
The plan is to get the county, state, city of North Port, and a private developer to split the cost four-ways.  That's correct, only four ways:
The best part of the day was the Braves suggesting that taking the burden of furniture and equipment (you know, like baseballs) off the taxpayers' shoulders counts as "paying their fair share."

But the second-best part of the day came after I do what I do...and requested documents.

See, the Braves and Sarasota County are suggesting they're exempt from certain Florida public record laws because of trade secrets...one of the same exemptions used by rapper Pitbull and public agency Visit Florida to deny our 2015 public records request into the artist’s taxpayer-funded tourism contract. That story ultimately cost three of the agency’s top executives their jobs.

Officially, county spokesperson Jason Bartolone responded that the Braves “have asserted confidentiality rights” under Florida State Statute 288.075, which aims to protect proprietary business information and trade secrets in public-private economic development deals.

Of course, it doesn't do a great job always protecting the taxpayer....who could use a little help after we showed how Sarasota County failed to get all of the Baltimore Orioles' 2009 spring training promises in writing, ultimately resulting in the failure to ever get that promised economy-driving Cal Ripken youth academy built.

I have some questions if the Braves are really allowed to use this exemption...read more about it here on WTSP.com.




FOLLOW: Shadow of the Stadium on Twitter
FOLLOW: Shadow of the Stadium on Facebook

11 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 25, 2017 at 5:07 PM

    Great RE-reporting, did you think of this stuff all on your own? Plus, the Braves will be locked into a 30 yr "lease", which will bind them to repaying all cost including all the maintenance along the way, AND the stadium will become the anchor for a new town center...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RickJanuary 27, 2017 at 6:50 AM

      Would that be like the Ray's iron clad lease that they are getting out of???

      Delete
    2. UnknownJanuary 27, 2017 at 3:11 PM

      You talking about the one that they'll have to still pay every penny of whether now or throughout the length of the lease?
      NOT including ALL the thousands of people they draw to town spending hundreds, tax revenue, jobs, real estate values increased, charities, etc. every year for the last 20 years...
      Plus St.Pete got lucky because they built the Trop before they even had the DRays...

      Delete
    3. RickJanuary 27, 2017 at 4:03 PM

      Keep dreaming.

      Delete
    4. UnknownJanuary 28, 2017 at 2:29 PM

      Facts are facts...

      Delete
    5. Noah PranskyJanuary 30, 2017 at 4:48 AM

      Dufala, you live in a world of alternative facts.

      Delete
    6. Noah PranskyJanuary 30, 2017 at 4:49 AM

      PS - Rays have a more legally-sound "use agreement," not a lease.

      Braves will have a lease, which the state of Fla recently made easier to break.

      Delete
    7. UnknownJanuary 30, 2017 at 4:44 PM

      Dude, both the Rays, Braves, Yankees in Tampa, and every other team playing in city owned parks have court mandated leases. Just because teams paying off government investments contradicts the rhetoric of your blog, doesn't make it false fact. Again, "facts are facts" & "a lease is a lease", and any alternative version of them aren't true...

      Delete
    8. Noah PranskyJanuary 31, 2017 at 5:02 AM

      There are leases...and there are use agreements. I'm going to guess you must have slept through contract law when you were getting your J.D.

      Delete
    9. UnknownJanuary 31, 2017 at 5:11 PM

      Well, if if you spent all the time & money to get a Juris Doctor just to re-report others writings & findings, and spin facts in YouTube videos like a FoxNews side show, I'm glad I didn't waste the time & money...
      Whether you call it leases or rental agreements, it's still a legal binding agreement mandated by the courts, and teams involved will be sued for the remainder of the lease if not paid out just like a mortgage, car loan, or a team renting a stadium from a city...
      Bottomline is a city builds a stadium, gets team to pay rent for the cost of construction while reaping ALL the other benefits of having a pro team(s) in your city. But, dumb Trump-supporting like your readers won't ever get it because they're to slow, so I guess I have wasted time...

      Delete
    10. Noah PranskyFebruary 8, 2017 at 12:13 PM

      Incorrect understanding of lease vs. use agreement.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)